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New Life Daily Devotion - Jan. 23, 2010

We made a decision to turn our wills and our lives over to the care of God.

Perhaps we're brokenhearted because of the bitter suffering in our family. Maybe our once-good reputations have been ruined and now we're ashamed. Our lives have been taken captive and destroyed before the watchful eyes of friend and foe alike.

Jeremiah watched this happen to his beloved nation, Israel. It's no wonder he's known as the weeping prophet. The people of God refused to listen to Jeremiah's warnings and were taken captive by a heathen nation as a result. Lamentations is a record of Jeremiah's lament over the shameful fate of God's people. He weeps, "Peace has been stripped away, and I have forgotten what prosperity is. I cry out, 'My splendor is gone! Everything I had hoped for from the LORD is lost!' The thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words. I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss. Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. I say to myself, 'The LORD is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!' The LORD is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him. So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the LORD" (Lamentations 3:17-26).

Turning our lives over to God includes giving him our pain and suffering. God is strong and loving enough to lift our burdens and mend our broken hearts.

When all hope is gone, we can entrust ourselves to God, remembering his never-ending compassion.